The Past Nine Months...

It's been a super long time since we updated our blog and a lot has happened in the past year! The most exciting news is that we're expecting our first little one any time now...Baby Manczak is due on 12/23/10! After trying to get pregnant on our own for awhile, we underwent invitro fertilization and had two embroyos implanted on April 1st, 2010. Here's a pic of our little embroyos:

Unfortunately my body didn't appreciate the whole IVF process and I spent several days in the hospital post embroyo transfer. Luckily, despite all the complications, we did get pregnant with one baby (not two)! Thanks to all the love, support and prayers from our families and friends we were able to get through the difficult first couple months of the pregnancy and it has been smooth sailing since then!

Belly Pic at 10 weeks

Another one at 24 weeks!

Since everything was so planned with this pregnancy, we decided to not find out the sex of the baby and be surprised on the big day. The nursery is all ready for Baby Manczak to arrive, the theme is Jungle Babies. Here are a few pictures of baby's room:

We are so excited to meet this little one in just a few short weeks and we're going to try to post more frequently once baby arrives!

It's been awhile...

Welcome 2010! It's been awhile since I've posted last (several months)...mainly because I've been lazy! The holidays were wonderful; lots of time spent with family and friends. As you can see from the photo below, our nephew Ethan is getting so big! The Kallenberg family made the long trip up to the Michigan for Christmas so we spent some quality time with our godson.

Ethan is walking (I should say running) everywhere and saying lots of words. He's full of energy and tiring to keep up with. He loves music and loves to dance and discovered my parents' piano!

Here's a picture of Nate and I on New Year's Eve, ringing in 2010! Here's to a great year and hopefully more blog postings!

Myrtle Beach Vacation

WELCOME HOME RACHEL!

After serving the past six months in Afghanistan, my sister, Rachel, is home! We celebrated her homecoming with a much needed vacation with the family in Myrtle Beach!

Nate and I decided that we would take our time driving down to South Carolina...a road trip! We left on a Thursday evening and drove from Grand Rapids to Cleveland, OH. Neither of us had ever been to downtown Cleveland and decided to check the city out and an awesome restaurant, Lola. This restaurant is owned by Chef Micheal Simon, who won The Next Iron Chef America reality show last year. Since Nate and I both love The Food Network, we decided to check the place out and it was great! The food was very unique and amazing...we had some bacon ice cream for dessert! If you're ever in the Cleveland area, it's totally worth checking out!

From Cleveland we drove through Ohio and Pennsylvania to Charlottesville, Virginia. Here's a picture of the beautiful scenery we drove through...I think this is somewhere is Pennsylvania. The fall colors were beautiful! We decided to stop in Charlottesville, VA because that's where University of Virginia is and that's where DMB got it's start!

As many of you know, my husband is a huge Dave Matthews fan and has since converted me! Every year we try to see Dave (yes, we're on a first name basis) a few times and Nate really wanted to check out the bar, Miller's, where Dave played before becoming famous. It was a very cool place and we drank a few beers in Dave's honor!

From Charlottesville, VA is was on to our final destination, Myrtle Beach! We spent a week with the family enjoying the sun and the beach, drinking lots of cocktails and playing with our nephew Ethan. We stayed in a beautiful condo right on the beach, Ocean Blue Condos, with two pools, a lazy river, and hot tub! It was very relaxing and great for catching up with everyone. While we were in Myrtle Beach, our nephew, Ethan, got his first haircut (which he didn't like very much) and we spent a lot of time playing in the sand, floating in the lazy river and just having fun. We ate lots of good food, went shopping and just had a great vacation!

Ethan Turns One!

Happy First Birthday Ethan!

Our nephew, Ethan, turned one on August 14, 2009. We can't believe it's been a year already. Ethan recently spent two weeks with Grandma and Grandpa Lambrix in Michigan. He had lots of fun here...playing in the grass, eating strawberries and playing in his kiddie pool. Before Ethan went back home, we had a birthday party for him! The whole family celebrated with him and he had so much fun.

Ethan got lots of toys and gifts...but his favorite part of the day was the birthday cake. Check out the video of him digging in. This was his first experience with cake and frosting. The funniest part of the video is my mom saying that Rachel (who's still in Afghanistan) didn't need to know that he was eating sweets. My sister was worried about him having too much sugar, but what baby can turn one without a cake! He was too cute!

Finally an update!

So it's been awhile (actually a long time) since out last update! Lots of things have happened in the past few months, primarily a wedding in the family. Nate's brother, Neil and his fiance, Melissa got married on May 16, 2009. They had a beautiful wedding in Detroit and we all had a great time.

Melissa was beautiful bride!

One of the most exciting things of the day was our trip to Joe Louis arena between the ceremony and the reception. Neil and Melissa are huge Red Wings fans, so they wanted to get some photos outside the Joe. Well, we got lots of pictures outside and then the limo driver got them inside! They were able to go in (sans the wedding party) and have pictures taken near the ice with all the banners, official Red Wings gear and most exciting...the Zambonie!

En route to Afghanistan

Lt. Rachel Kallenberg is en route to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Rachel completed her combat training at Fort Hood, Texas, last week and is headed to Afghanistan. She will be deployed there for the next six months. Thanks to everyone for all their thoughts, prayers and support!

Go Military Mama! We love you and miss you already!

Finally an update!

Santa's Little Helper: Ethan Zachary 12/08

I finally decided to update our blog...we've been busy and time has slipped away! Things have been going well and we've been able to spend lots of time with family and friends in the last few months. We had a hectic holiday season but were blessed to see our families, especially our little nephew Ethan (and Rachel and Allen).

The week before Christmas Nate and I were honored to be Ethan's godparents at his baptism, along with his Aunt Jane also! He was such a good boy during the baptism and didn't cry at all. He was more interested in sucking his thumb and checking everyone out.

The other news going on is that Rachel, my sister, who is an officer in the Air Force is being deployed to Afghanistan. She has already left for Texas, where she will spend the next few weeks training with the Army at Fort Hood. She will be in Afghanistan around the beginning of April for a 6 month deployment. We're hoping that she's home by the middle of October. In order to see her before she left, I flew down to South Carolina at the beginning of the month along with my parents. Unfortunately, Nate couldn't go and had to stay home but it was a great visit. Here's a pic of Ethan and Rachel chillin' out and watching cartoons on a Saturday morning!

Thanks for keeping Rachel, Allen and Ethan in your thoughts and prayers. We're already counting down the days until October! Hopefully I'll be better about updating the blog before then.

Our Nephew: Cutie Pie!

So we just can't show off our nephew, Ethan, enough! He's three months old now and getting so big. Here are some pictures from their trip to Michigan back in the beginning of October. After over seven hundred miles in the car, the little guy was worn out! He got passed from person to person and slept the whole time! He's so darn cute!

Sleeping again...

Ethan, my sister Rachel and brother-in-law Allen made the trip home to Michigan so my grandpa could meet Ethan. Although he wasn't feeling well, he was so excited to see the little guy and hold him. My grandma was pretty excited too!

His eyes are open in this one...barely! He was all bundled up for the cold Michigan weather, very different from the warm South Carolina sun!

MSU Tailgating

We spent several Saturdays during football season tailgating with friends in East Lansing. Here are some pictures from our tailgating adventures! Here we are after the MSU vs. Flordia Atlantic game with Stacie and Brian. It was a very rainy day!

For the MSU vs. Notre Dame game the weather was much nicer...awesome for tailgating! Here we are and our friend Mark, hanging out at the Miller Lite tent.

Vacation Pictures...Finally!!!

Here's a few pictures from our Southern road trip...

Nate and I had a great time on our vacation to South and North Carolina at the end of August. We started our trip in Sumter, South Carolina, where we met our adorable nephew Ethan and spent some time with my family. From Sumter we head to Charleston, SC...and had so much fun! We endured the hot, humid August weather...sight seeing around Charleston, eating awesome food, and shopping! Here I am on the pier along the harbor in Charleston and at a local lake in Sumter. Nate is enjoying a glass of wine at our bed and breakfast in Charleston and digging into some yuumy southern BBQ!




Here we are at Middleton Place, a plantation outside of Charleston, SC. This was such a beautiful spot! Nate and I went for wine tasting and dinner one evening and were able to wonder the grounds and take in the scenery...and the food was amazing. Here's a pic of our bed and breakfast, The Battery Carriage House. It was one steet west of the ocean and we stayed in a cozy little room that opened onto the gardens on the lower level of the house. It's a huge, beautiful old Southern house!







From Charleston, we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a few days. While there, we visited with Nate's cousin Renee and her boyfriend Adam (sorry I don't have a picture with them). Nate enjoyed golfing while I soaked up some of the sunshine. From Myrtle Beach we headed to Wilmington, NC, to visit our friend Steve. Here is a pic of he and Nate...although we had to help Steve pack up his apartment and move, we still have a ton of fun.

New Camera, No Pictures :(

So I got a fancy new camera for my birthday and have taken a ton of pictures from our vacation to South Carolina and tailgating, but unfortunatley I can't post any of them. Our very old computer thinks it doesn't have a CD drive any longer, so I can't figure out how to get the camera software onto it so I can download all my pictures. Neither Nate or I know how to fix this problem, so until I get a new computer I can't post any pics. BOO!

But I do have some pictures that others have been sending me...check out how big our nephew is getting! We can't wait to see him soon.

Welcome Baby Ethan!

As many of you already now, we have a new nephew, Ethan Zachary Kallenberg! Ethan was born August 14, 2008, at 2:32pm weighing in at 8lbs. 9oz. and 21 inches long! Rachel did an amazing job...she was strong, focused and determined. I was able to be in the delivery room for his birth and it was awesome. He is so cute!

We spent a few weeks enjoying the hot, humid South Carolina weather visiting and getting to know our new godson. We were also able to spend some time touring around the state...sight seeing and visiting friends and family in Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Wilmington, NC. More pics of our vacation to follow soon.

Before bed, after his bath and tummy time. He's already loving the camera!





I was reading but I think he was sleeping!!!!

Baby's first John Deere tractor ride with Daddy!